6PakBee
Well-Known Member
Does anybody make a "dumb" battery charger any more? I have a NAPA "smart" charger and it's driving me nuts with all the safety features. Any alternatives?
What's the issue?I have a NAPA "smart" charger and it's driving me nuts with all the safety features
I've had many of the Schumacher smart chargers, and they work pretty good....for awhile. They just aren't durable at all. I've had at least 3 fail on me. I think they're made with Chinese parts which won't stand up to frequent use.Does anybody make a "dumb" battery charger any more? I have a NAPA "smart" charger and it's driving me nuts with all the safety features. Any alternatives?
Those digital "smart" units are junk, as far as I'm concerned....Does anybody make a "dumb" battery charger any more? I have a NAPA "smart" charger and it's driving me nuts with all the safety features. Any alternatives?
They don't charge dead batteries ! They SUCK. Hell they don't even charge low ones !What's the issue?
The one I have you can't even test anything , the hot lead isn't hot till you put it on a live battery. Won't light a bulb up or test a starter or anything. Put it on a battery and it just bounces on & off. Gonna get the BHF out !The charger I have will charge a battery that will not crank the engine. Is that your definition of dead?
Smart units? Whats wrong with an old fashioned timer?Those digital "smart" units are junk, as far as I'm concerned....
I have done that to resurrect a weak agm battery which had trouble fully charging and keeping the charge once charged in the car. I checked it with my electronic tester, and it read as 'bad' while fully charged. I hooked it up in parallel to a good battery. Then I put it on the charger. After a day or so, I'd use a battery load tester to deplete the good battery a bit then put it back on the charger. After about a half dozen cycles like that the agm battery finally took a full charge. I put the agm on my electronic battery tester and it read 'good', 100%. Saved a very expensive 3yo, 70# agm NAPA battery for my 09 charger, that NAPA wouldn't warranty because I didn't have the receipt.Sometimes a charger won't start up if the battery is stone dead. Put the charger on the dead one and jump from a good battery to get it started.
(Same reason so many perfectly good discharged agm's get thrown away, the charger won't start, so "it won't take a charge".)
Kick ***! Ya Know, if it's Obviously THEIR crap, and Napa IS marked, just Make it Right! Why try to screw the customer, or the next Lil guy over some corporate Scum wanting to slice a Penny sidewaysI have done that to resurrect a weak agm battery which had trouble fully charging and keeping the charge once charged in the car. I checked it with my electronic tester, and it read as 'bad' while fully charged. I hooked it up in parallel to a good battery. Then I put it on the charger. After a day or so, I'd use a battery load tester to deplete the good battery a bit then put it back on the charger. After about a half dozen cycles like that the agm battery finally took a full charge. I put the agm on my electronic battery tester and it read 'good', 100%. Saved a very expensive 3yo, 70# agm NAPA battery for my 09 charger, that NAPA wouldn't warranty because I didn't have the receipt.
Yer a Sick Man Del, That's why we Love Ya, in a Non Faggoty way, of Course! I had a step-dad that worked Electronics for NARF at NAS Jax. Giant *** hangers, full of all kinda stuff. Never had a chance to learn ****. Even if it don't seem like it, Dumbasses like me, or at least me, have learned more than I could ever Comprehend just Reading your stuff, and You HAVE helped me figure out some stuff, probably without knowing it! Some of the stuff you deliver, I'd have to research, just to Do the researchin' ! Thank You for Sharing all Yer Knowledge and Much Appreciated! Now if I just could remember how to make 12v to 24v... series or parallel? Hot to Hot, neg to negative, or run + to --..... oh well... duhhhhIf you have a charger, even a smart one that is a TRANSFORMER charger and not a "switching" (inverter) supply, you might be able to make a modification to "unsmart" the thing. If you can't figure that out, you could just add either two diodes (center tap) or 4 (in a bridge) and make a simple rectifier output that is not "smart."
Even "dumb" chargers will sometimes not activate a really dead battery. I sometimes series two "dumb" chargers (for 24V) to "boost start" a really dead one. Watch the meters, and when they come up after a couple/ few minutes, revert back to one charger
You can also do that with an extra good battery and a charger. Series the good battery and the "dumb" charger for 24V and again, watch meter for output to rise
When I was a kid, and I still have what is left of it, we had an old "tungar bulb" charger. These are always set up to charge batteries in series, because the tungar bulb has quite a bit of operating resistance, so rather than trying to get more current out of the charger to charge more than one battery, you put the batteries in series and crank up the "tap switch" on the charger. Because they do this---increase voltage--they are also useful for boosting dead batteries
View attachment 1715969628
Above example is a "20 battery"--that's 6V so if you are charging at 8V that's 160V !!!! out of that charger to charge all 20 6V batteries in series!!!
What's the issue?
This appears to be a 100% manual charger.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBC...CS-jPFdLK-DQEyKblsaApxMEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&
I saw that, too, but if you zoom in on the console, all you see are dials. It's listed everywhere else as manual. I'd sure like to see one in person.The title says 'manual' but if you look in the specifications it's listed as an "automatic".
When I was running the battery shop for a Sears store, many moons ago, they wouldn't adjust any battery that came in dead, without charging it first. We had a battery rack that used something very similar, there would be five or ten customer batteries on it, and another ten or so 'loaner batteries.", all charging at once.If you have a charger, even a smart one that is a TRANSFORMER charger and not a "switching" (inverter) supply, you might be able to make a modification to "unsmart" the thing. If you can't figure that out, you could just add either two diodes (center tap) or 4 (in a bridge) and make a simple rectifier output that is not "smart."
Even "dumb" chargers will sometimes not activate a really dead battery. I sometimes series two "dumb" chargers (for 24V) to "boost start" a really dead one. Watch the meters, and when they come up after a couple/ few minutes, revert back to one charger
You can also do that with an extra good battery and a charger. Series the good battery and the "dumb" charger for 24V and again, watch meter for output to rise
When I was a kid, and I still have what is left of it, we had an old "tungar bulb" charger. These are always set up to charge batteries in series, because the tungar bulb has quite a bit of operating resistance, so rather than trying to get more current out of the charger to charge more than one battery, you put the batteries in series and crank up the "tap switch" on the charger. Because they do this---increase voltage--they are also useful for boosting dead batteries
View attachment 1715969628
Above example is a "20 battery"--that's 6V so if you are charging at 8V that's 160V !!!! out of that charger to charge all 20 6V batteries in series!!!